Well-Loved House

Exciting times ahead! We just got our new “old” house, near to my parents in PJ. The house hunting was quite an interesting process as we swung from wanting a small single storey terrace to a huge double storey, drawing up a list of requirements and finally having reality hit in our faces on what we can really afford. My Dad was terrific, scouring the papers every single day for the last 2 months, calling and narrowing down the selection so that we saw only relevant ones on weekends.

In the end, we settled for a smaller double storey unit which I first saw with my Dad at the start of our search. Actually, it turned me off at first despite Dad saying this is a really good buy! Strangely, Dad and I seemed to compare most houses with this one to a point that I had to make another appointment just for KS and Mum to see for themselves.

The surprising thing is that although it was in the market for some months with a few agents appointed looking for potential buyers, it was never sold. Houses in the same area going for about the same price or slightly less with termite infestation seemed to have buyers snapping them up in a short time.

It doesn’t face a junction plus it is very well looked after with renovations which were quite tastefully done. We figured it was because the house number is an undesirable number for Chinese, which we are only slightly worried about resale but that will be a worry for the far future. Mum just says it was waiting for us.

While another house met almost all our requirements for the same price compared to this house, this house had a “feeling”. So my house-hunting experience now tells me it’s not just about what makes sense, but what your senses make of it. KS said it feels like there was a lot of love in that house. The (deceased) father had actually built an attic for his kids to play in (how many would?), the home lovingly kept, carefully designed during renovations with no ugly pipes sticking out of the walls. Plus KS and my Mum love the kitchen floor tiles (!).

So yeah, our new home comes with an attic, a solar heater which gives hot water into the kitchen, has two gigantic aquariums, an electric gate, has ample parking outside for visitors. Just haven’t figured out where Ang Ku will be kept yet. Very excited about it!

Anyway, we don’t have photos of the place yet. Now begins the interesting process of purchasing a house.